We are not a couple
by Titanic-fanatic
Summary: The icy and broken man she'd met on a distant Christmas suddenly spoke, voice warm as the setting sun, resigning or returning to a better place "Rose". A little humor with underlying sadness, just like the Doctor please read and review! ONESHOT


**We are not a couple**

The Doctor sat on cliff feet dangling casually over the edge staring outward. He was alone, as usual, left to muse and ponder as he just sat. His mind would often wander to his idolatrous fantasies, those forbidden thoughts that he'd harbored and never acted upon. He regretted them now because each time he reminisces about those precious memories and reflects on what could have been an aching sensation racks his chest cavity. It was painful, but worth remembering the smile.

_Her_ smile. The wonderful strands of golden hair that framed her gleaming white smile... the small of her nose that scrunched up above her smile...the deep chocolate brown eyes that were set so perfectly on those rosy cheeks that adorned her smile. The sound of her smile shimmering, like stardust in a cosmic wind that was only felt by him. The way that sound resonated within him: once inspiring a reciprocated smile and an ache. How he longed to feel that smile against his, she'd once brushed that smile millimeters away but they never quite touched, the electricity sparked from the almost contact had caused them to spring apart - and there was that pain again. Now a numb aching accenting the hole she'd left with that smile.

Donna had meandered off mentioning something about going to get an ice cream from that little shop the Doctor had insisted they go in earlier. He had a fascination about little shops, Donna didn't get it, neither did Martha but _she_ did - again the stabbing dull pulse through his hearts. He brought his legs from the edge and rested his elbows on his knees, staring outward.

The Doctor shrugged of the sudden melancholy that had absorbed his mind and gazed onto the sunset, noting the way the orange sun blended into the violet sky, the seamless transition bathed in amber light, it was...well _rose_ coloured. He contemplated the notion for a moment. She was that essence, that glue holding him together - mending the bridge between his darkness and light that had been destroyed by the Time War. And just like the sunset she was gone so quickly, leaving him in the dark. But it wasn't over yet, the sun was still bathing in the ocean, scorching against the stars that were barely shining in the heavens above him.

He smiled softly, rubbing his curled fingers along his chin, a small smirk remaining as he removed his hand, leaning backwards on his palms - the carpet of grass beneath ticked his skin playfully.

"You are lucky, they were almost closing" Donna began perching beside him and thrusting a vanilla ice cream in front of him.

"What no strawberry sauce?" he noted, taking the confection, seeing how not red it was. Donna shot him an unimpressed glare, as she got comfortable, before slapping him on the arm "Ow!"

She stared a little longer "Sorry...thank you" the Time Lord murmured.

"S'more like it" Donna triumphantly grinned, going to take a bite out of her own cone "And what's more the bloke behind the counter kept on about you" she added, consuming some of the creamy substance.

"Oh Jeremy, I like Jeremy" the Doctor recalled, looking to Donna "What's wrong with Jeremy?" he pressed, licking his vanilla treat contently.

"_He_ thought we were a couple" Donna explained, raising an eyebrow, conveying her disapproval.

"Ah" the Doctor reacted, swallowing.

"No offence or anything but you're not my type" Donna smiled, nudging him.

"None taken" the Doctor returned honestly. If he were to say, Donna wasn't his _type _either. He didn't have a type really now he thought about it. He had _her_, he didn't _need_ a type...he just needed _her_. He sighed softly.

"Good" Donna commented suspiciously as the Doctor's eyes darted calculatingly to the sea.

"Good" the Doctor affirmed after a silent moment, not quite placing an emotion behind his response, simply responding just to satisfy Donna's scrutinizing glances. He went back to his ice cream purposely, licking the vanilla ice cream slowly, taking in the taste with a smile. He loved ice cream - pure, innocent vanilla ice cream with no painful connections to anybody or any thoughts or any memories.

"Bet you do that to all the girls" Donna smirked, biting into her own.

'_Okay not so pure and innocent now, and there certainly would be a connotation lingering around vanilla ice cream from this day forth'_ the Doctor pondered to himself as he nearly choked.

"Thanks for that" the Doctor grinned back, trying to suppress his grin but nonetheless grinning. Donna's bright green eyes danced over his face and he felt at ease all of a sudden, his melancholy had dissipated.

"So do you get that a lot then, I mean wherever we go everyone _assumes_ we are together" she commented, lulling her head in the general direction of he shop.

The Doctor stopped licking his ice cream "Sometimes, I remember once when-"

He stopped himself, face dropping like his sentence in the salty sea air.

"When?" she reminded him, causing the Doctor to backtrack over his rambling thoughts.

"Doesn't matter" he covered, turning his ice cream cone round in his hands.

"Come on spill the secrets about the ex" Donna nudged playfully.

"She wasn't an ex" he half smiled, pain absolving his expression.

"She _wasn't_ an ex?" Donna pressed, not reading his behaviour correctly.

The Doctor didn't respond and simply stared out to the sunset, the beautiful light diminishing in the distance. He watched nonchalantly, a hint of disappointment seeping into his hazel stare.

"Rose?" Donna whispered. It was a taboo, her name. She evidently had made an impression so great on the alien beside her. It was obvious when Donna had met him - a broken man. So different to how he was now - full of life and energy, surely how he was normally, before he'd lost her.

But now, the man beside her, it was incomparable how he appeared. From the coldness of his thin lips to those aged eyes - dark and turbulent, loss, anger and sadness ebbing from his gaze. It was frightening. Donna felt like the planet beneath them could crumble and he'd sit and watch it burn, let it die like the light in his eyes - only a flicker remaining. It was as though a shimmer of a man, a man Donna hadn't met, was lingering - ignited into existence by the thought of her.

Donna could only guess at what had parted them and broken him so desperately, she knew it must have been great but had no inclination of the cataclysmic impact it had on the Doctor.

The icy and broken man she'd met on a distant Christmas suddenly spoke, voice warm as the setting sun, resigning or returning to a better place "Rose".


End file.
